Dassault Systèmes Helps Bring First Ever World Expo Online to Life

3DVIA’s lifelike experience, online interaction and global collaborative platform ensure Shanghai World Expo is a stage where curtains never fall

Shanghai, China — Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination has chosen the company’s 3DVIA, to create the first ever World Expo Online in the Expo’s 158-year history. With the help of 3DVIA 3D virtual technology, World Expo Shanghai Online will be accessible to anyone anytime, providing virtual visitors with 3D lifelike experiences, real-time interaction and a global platform to allow everyone’s online presence at the Expo.

Using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DVIA, in conjunction with Web3D and multimedia technologies, Expo Online will build a virtual park of the 5.28-square kilometer 2010 Expo site and hundreds of virtual pavilions in 3D, allowing visitors to vividly experience the entire Expo site and travel freely from one pavilion to another with just the click and drag of a mouse. Virtual visitors can participate in all kinds of 3D interactive activities and watch online broadcast of events of the physical Expo anytime. Expo Online will also create the “City of Future”, leveraging the concept and format of online gaming to collaborate creatively among visitors from around the world and jointly build a harmonious city of the future.

Expo Shanghai Online is expecting more than 100 million viewers, making the 2010 Expo the most important World Expo ever with participants from around the world. Expo Shanghai Online will be permanently preserved after the physical Expo ends, creating an everlasting virtual exhibition for future generations.

“World Expo Shanghai Online is a revolutionary creation. It is not a simple copy of the physical Expo, but an introductory channel, extension and supplement to the Expo. Through the 3D lifelike experience technology, we are able to comprehensively present World Expo,” said Wang Liping, Chief Operation Officer of Expo Website Management Office and Deputy Director of Expo Communication & Promotion Dept. “As the host of 2010 World Expo, our responsibility is to carry its innovative spirit and extend it to every corner of the world. Thanks to the diversity, interactivity and broad coverage brought by the Internet in the era of Web 2.0, in conjunction with Dassault Systèmes’ 3D lifelike experience technology, Expo Online will bring more people to participate in and benefit from this special event of human civilization. The valuable cultural legacy from Shanghai World Expo will also be preserved forever in the virtual world.”

Bernard Charlès, President and CEO of Dassault Systèmes, said: “It is an honor for us to help realize the world’s first ever World Expo Online. For more than a century, the World Expo has provided a platform for dreamers and innovators to present great creations and ideas, opening new doors to human civilization. Dassault Systèmes, as a global citizen, is committed to creating an unprecedented platform allowing free imagination from everyone. With the advanced 3D lifelike technology and collective intelligence from online communities, we can bring dreams from the virtual world to real life and make our world a better one.”

The 3DVIA Virtools technology that enables people to virtually explore and participate in Expo Online is extensively used in many scenarios, including product experience, city planning, retail shopping experience, simulation-based training, advertising or even Internet marketing. In fact, 3D lifelike experience technology is already widely used by a broad range of industries including aerospace, automobile, construction, consumer packaged goods and apparel. Through precise design, simulation and manufacturing of a product in the virtual world prior to its actual production, material waste and energy consumption can be significantly reduced, leading to lower cost and shorter product development time. Bird’s Nest, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Stadium and Shanghai World Financial Center, the world’s tallest building, are both built using Dassault Systèmes’ 3D-based technologies and simulation solutions.

The domain name of World Expo Online is www.expo.cn. The beta version will go live in 2009, and the official launch date of World Expo will be May 1, 2010. More than 200 official participants from around the world and 31 participants from China’s domestic provinces and enterprises will take part in Expo Shanghai Online.

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About Dassault Systèmes

As a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 100,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systèmes develops and markets PLM application software and services that support industrial processes and provide a 3D vision of the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance. The Dassault Systèmes portfolio consists of CATIA for designing the virtual product - SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design - DELMIA for virtual production - SIMULIA for virtual testing - ENOVIA for global collaborative lifecycle management, and 3DVIA for online 3D lifelike experiences. Dassault Systèmes is listed on the Nasdaq (DASTY) and Euronext Paris (#13065, DSY.PA) stock exchanges. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com

CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA, SolidWorks and 3D VIA are registered trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries.